Islamic Tolerance

Whenever I hear religious people talk about tolerance, I make sure they realize that the price of tolerating ignorance, superstition, and unreason is too high. If you want me to respect your beliefs, find me something WORTH respecting, and then I’ll think about it.

Atheist and syndicated columnist Amy Alkon here – wanted to tell you (as you apparently don’t know — unless you’ve paid for the use of this cartoon) that you can’t just go around publishing people’s copyrighted work without paying for it. It’s stealing.

If you want to run somebody’s cartoon or column or other published work on your blog, contact them or their syndicator or newspaper, get a price for licensing it, and pay for it.

Jacob Fortin

If the artist contacts me and wants it taken down, I’ll do so. If an artist feels that their work is devalued by having it displayed for others to see, that’s their business. Until then, I will assume that artists want their works seen.

If somebody steals a piece of your jewelry and you don’t know it, it’s no less stolen. Religious people like to argue that there’s no morality without fear-based religion. Seems best that atheists not prove them right.

A link doesn’t absolve theft. Taking the fruits of somebody’s creative labor without paying them is like having a contractor do work on your house and not paying them. This guy sells cartoons for a living. I was guessing that, like many people, you weren’t aware of how copyright laws work, and that it’s stealing to post somebody’s work without paying for it.

I’m disappointed to see that when this was pointed out to you, you didn’t seem to consider it in the slightest and just stubbornly and (apparently unthinkingly) kept the work up. Do let me know when you’ll be over to mow my lawn for no pay.

dss

By analogizing copyright infringement to theft, all you do is harm your own credibility.

Theft implies depriving someone of something and, given that it’s often more likely someone will take a comic (or other piece of intellectual property) down rather than paying, that in turn presents you as a “count your chicks before they hatch” sort of person.

Furthermore, doing so is a very bad public relations move because it reminds people of the RIAA’s sustained attempts to bully people into paying money they usually don’t have for “product” they often don’t consider worth the market price. (In other words, they’re “count your chicks before they hatch and take them to court if they don’t” people)

Given that you are an advice columnist, I would be especially careful. You live on your credibility and that has a significant dependence on peoples’ emotional response to you.